Lock free, for a while in the Thousand Islands

June 29th-July 2  Clayton New York

Not to be missed area, you won't want to leave, prepare to be wowed, were phrases associated with the Thousand Islands when we told of our heading.  We were not be disappointed! But first a little history of the area.

Long before the Europeans settled the area, Iroquois and Algonquin tribes spent their summer months fishing and hunting on the River. Lore has it that Mantou said to his people "I will give you a paradise, if you live in peace." According to legend, the tribes did not stop fighting, so the Great Spirit put his paradise, known as Manitouana, the Garden of the Great Spirit, into a great blanket to take it back into the sky, Just as he was to part the sky curtain, the blanket fell open and the garden splashed into the St. Lawrence River. As it struck the water, it broke into hundreds upon hundreds of pieces big and little, creating the Thousand Islands.

The islands were sold several times before and after the American Revolution. Shortly after the Civil War, the popularity of the islands increased as transportation systems improved and wealthy sportsmen made the trek to the river.
The social era of the Alexandria Bay area began in 1872 when George Pullman invited President Ulysses Grant to visit his Pullman island. The articles in nationwide newspapers sparked interest that resulted in the explosion of the area as a summer resort. Numerous wealthy families purchased islands for personal recreational use.

Abraham and Abraham, owners of Macy's department stores, the president of Singer Sewing Machine, Frederick Borne and George Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in NYC. were just a few. 

 During the prohibition era in the U.S., Captains would smuggle bags of alcohol tied to the side of their boats to the U.S. from Canada. If approached by law they would cut the lines dropping the bags to the bottom of the river, to be recovered later. Divers are still finding some of those bottles. 

As we approached Clayton the beauty of the Thousand Island area opened like the pedals of a rose, one after another. We were enthralled and wowed! Until we had to concentrate on finding the town dock our conversation was limited to Wow , look at that house, wow, look over here, wow did you see that house? Clear water, dotted with Islands large and small appeared in every direction.  There are actually one thousand eight hundred and sixty four islands making up the Thousand Islands. To be counted as an island the land form had to remain above water 365 days and be large enough to support trees and vegetation.
We stayed at the village dock, a single long dock that was exposed to the open water, wind and boat wakes for two days. Fortunately we were on the inside of the dock so the rock and roll wasn't horrible. The dock was just at the end of town making everything easily assessable. At the start of the third day we moved to Clayton marina which is at the other end of town. There were a number of loopers there and the facilities were very nice.

Clayton is a charming village with nice shops, restaurant's and an excellent antique wooden boat museum that we both enjoyed immensely. They have a pretty famous cheese shop called River Rat Cheese. They specialty is cheese curds and they come in different flavors as well as plain. I had cheese curds once a while back and was not a fan but very willing to give it a try again and boy was I glad I did! I bought herb and spicy and both were excellent. Their string cheese looked like short spaghetti noodles. Also very good.
While we were at Clayton there was a dog jumping show. Various techniques were used to excite the dog before throwing his toy in a large pool.  A variety of breeds was represented.  It was fun to watch all the different sized dogs jump, some nearing the 20 ft mark.

Great wall murals 

River Rat Cheese shop, home of the famous cheese curds

Closed on Monday but busy working with cheese

                                           

I love the towns that have a charm about them

 

     The other side of the street    

                                  I saw this Amish family around town a couple of times

                                            A shot of the main street from the village dock

                                                      The sunsets here were beautiful

                                           The majority of the docks at the private islands were under water because of all the spring rain. Its an interesting dilemma as the Thousand islands residents wanted Lake Ontario to let more water go to relieve their flooding but because of the lake levels people there did not want it to happen.
                                                     

                           These two senior ladies were trying to row this wooden boat. They were a                                                 hoot to watch. Obviously had not done much rowing in her life.

               There was a car show in the yard of the Wooden Boat museum the day we went

                                                                 
                                    
                                                     Below is a photo of the early paddle boat

                                                                An early paddle boat

                                      This is an air boat. Zoom in if you can to see the engine

Our family name and we also owned a Johnson motor when I was a kid

 Have you ever wondered where Thousand Island dressing originated. Yep right here in the Thousand Islands. The story told to me by a tour guide was that a charter fisherman had a special dressing he used but forgot it on the day he was entertaining an actress( didn't say who it was) Because he was unable to leave the island to obtain the forgotten dressing he threw together what he had to make dressing for the salad. She loved it and raved about it to a well known restaurant owner who then started using it in his restaurant. Because there were so many diners asking about the dressing they decided to bottle it. With its original name it didn't sell well. They decided to rename it Thousand island and you know how that went.

                         This beautiful hotel is what some people feel helped turn the town of Clayton around when it lost its factories.  It is right near the marina and was quite busy the entire time we were there. I am told it is really pretty inside but never made it in.

The gazebo with outside bar and fire pit at the hotel

                                                           Tied to the village dock

            We bought a new dinghy motor. Our first trip out of the marina was a disaster! The new motor has a small built in gas tank. Tom started the motor and we left the boat, without oars I might add! The motor quit and he was unable to restart it.  We bobbed around until a neighboring boat came out in his dinghy and towed us back. Turns out you have to turn the gas tank on for it to run. Guess if Tom would have read the manual before we set out for our ride it would have gone a bit smoother.

                  The next morning we took the oars and extra gas and had a beautiful 4 mile ride to the rock island lighthouse. I climbed to the top took a few photos and we started back to the boat. By then the wind had kicked up to a pretty good chop and we were wet and tired from bouncing.

Rock Island Lighthouse

There was a three day dog jumping contest which we really enjoyed watching part of an afternoon. All breeds and sizes were involved and boy did they love to chase a thrown toy into the water. 

Lock follies before the lake

Thursday June 27th, 2019

The Oswego Canal opened in 1828. Four years after the Erie Canal. It is 23.7 miles long connecting the Erie Canal to Lake Ontario at Oswego. The canal originally had fifteen locks but thank goodness now only has seven.  We were down bound in all of the locks which is usually much easier for controlling the boat  Completing the six locks will change our elevation by 118 feet. Once started we were on the move down quickly, like a fast draining tub.  Twenty five thousand gallons of water drained and filled the locks.

By the third lock it had become routine, motor in slowly along the wall, grab a line at the bow, hold on until Tom could run down and grab an aft line  and prepare to drop. As we descended in the third lock Tom called to me at the bow. The boat behind us is in trouble. When I looked back it was scary. Either the gal tied or wrapped her line around the ladder. Because we were dropping so fast the line tightened quickly and she was unable to get it loose. She yelled for her husband but he wasn't successful either. Now the complete port side of their boat was out of the water and going up with the taught line. She ran in, brought out a knife and cut the line! Ping went the line and the boat dropped violently to the water throwing them both to the floor. Thank goodness she was not standing in the gunnel as it could have thrown her up against the wall and out of the boat. Their boat bounced violently for a minute or two. They reported that they were shook up but ok.
Never, Never tie your lines and always carry a knife on your person when in a lock.
As we exited the seventh lock Oswego and Lake Ontario were in view. It was noon and the lake had one footers so we decided to skip Oswego and head across the lake to Sockets Harbor or Cape Vincent. It was about 3pm with an hour to go and the lake started to pick up. The last hour was quite choppy but tolerable. We were making good time so headed to Cape Vincent. We found all of the town docks under water so we tied up to the break wall for the night. By nightfall there were three of us, one anchored and two of us on the little wall.
Peanut was excited about getting off the boat until she ran down the cement brake wall and realized it was not attached to land. Boy did I get a look! She kept looking over the sides and finally settled in on a 1 by 1 foot piece of grass sticking up through the crack of the wall to take care of things.

                                                    Wall mural as we passed by Oswego

                                    The lighthouse as you leave the canal and enter Lake Ontario

                                        Beautiful Day at least most of it on Lake Ontario

                    The flooding in Cape Vincent, The sailboat that came in and anchored were boaters we met in two previous places. They gave peanut and I a ride to shore. we had to wade in as the docks were under water ankle to calf in depth.

                                                  Cool antique/junk store in Cape Vincent

                                                         Sign outside the store

               Free aquarium was not open as it was flooded. Note the sandbags at the door

                                                      Tied up to the brake wall

                                                Another shot of the aquarium

 our path

And They;re off!

Thursday, June 27th

Tom and I took a bus from Phoenix to Fulton, which is at Lock 3. I had been texting back and forth with a Larry who had been stuck their with four other looper boats. Larry told us Fulton was having food and music by the water so we went. It was fun and we had a chance to look over the lock and town. After spending a few hours we agreed that we much preferred Phoenix.  While in Fulton the long anticipated text arrived.  The Oswego was opening in the morning. There were now 12 boats behind us in Brewerton waiting for the canal to open.  Add this to the five of us at Phoenix and it was going to be a busy day on the Oswego. Upon our return to Laughter we discovered that several more boats came in and tied up to the wall right outside the lock. Now the dock was buzzing. Would the new boaters respect the fact that the five of us were here first? Would they let the five of us pass them and go first? Is someone going to speak up about it?  Should someone assign numbers? A maximum of 6 boats can squeeze into the lock at a time so who's in first?  At one point there was a gaggle of guys discussing these questions. Tomorrow morning is going to be an interesting?
The lock was scheduled to open at 7:00. By 6:30, coffee in hand the guys were discussing again. Several of the new boats up front already had their engines warming up. By 6:45 three more boats were jockeying around at the entrance to the dock area. They had left Brewerton at dawn to arrive by lock opening. Apparently Tom either volunteered or was elected to say something via radio to those who tied up in front of us. Their response was not pretty so, as they say in racing,  Start your engines! The bold pulled out and passed those who were trying to cut in on an appropriate line. We just watched the show because our starboard engine wouldn't start! So down in the engine room Tom goes to bleed the air out.  Done in record time we made the second group to enter the lock and were on our way!

 Lock 1 has a low bridge just after the lock. When the lock doors open to leave the lock the bridge must also be raised for us to pass under.

                           One of the other boats took our photo with all the fenders. you are required to have fenders down on both sides of your boat for the Erie and Oswego canals in case they want to raft a smaller boat off of yours.

The dam released water close to the lock making the water a challenge when we left the lock.